Singing About The Dark Times—Now And Then

In association with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, PoemAlley celebrates the release of Tuesday Night Live (Turn of River Press, 2018) this Saturday afternoon in downtown Stamford.

Ralph Nazareth and Eleni Anastos Begetis

Hoby Rosen and Alex McDonald

The fourth in a series of PA member anthologies edited by group facilitator Ralph Nazareth, Tuesday Night will be dramatized with a series of live readings by numerous contributors both local and from the tri-state area, such as Rona Schenkerman, Cora Santaguida and Eleni Begetis Anastos, who, as co-owner of Curley’s Diner, has generously provided a regular weekly home for this uniquely dynamic gathering of poets, essayists, musicians and other artists since PoemAlley’s founding by Ann Yarmal and Catherine Ednie in the late 1990s. Over this span, the group has grown, not just in attendance, but in warmth, interchange and community, notably embodied by many departed members over the years, including Herb Davison, Alex McDonald, Hoby Rosen, Eddie Smith, Diva, and, most recently, Eva-Maria Palevich.

From 9/11, perpetual global wars, erosion of civil liberties, to the current nadir of what seems to be a comprehensively regressive time, Tuesday nights at Curley’s Diner endures as an irrepressible haven for open thought, singing and joy.

While you can scroll to the bottom of this post for further details, this is also a good time to catch up on other books produced by individual PA members over the last few years:    

Former Fairfield County resident Susan Cossette Eng’s Peggy Sue Messed Up (CreateSpace, 2017) applies the home-base theme of growing up female in a bastion of suburban conformity as a launch pad for weighing the ethics of the Atomic Age, confronting the consequences of poverty and inequality and highlighting Elizabeth Warren’s refusal to cringe before Beltway patriarchy in defense of reproductive rights, among other affecting, timely topics. Below is a video collage version of “Struldbrug at the Wine Bar” (her musings on European musical culture),  one of several engaging adaptations of her pieces posted on her Youtube channel: 

Now residing out-of-state, Susan collaborated frequently with fellow PA member Neddy Smith, a Norwalk-based musician, who has played both solo and with bands live and in the recording studio in Jazz, Funk, Brazilian, Caribbean and other genres. His positive zeal for music both as performer and as enthusiastic educator has been extended to fiction with the publication last year of Valerie Palmary: A Small-Town Girl (NedGJean Publishing, 2017). A novel of creative and entrepreneurial self-discovery in the aftermath of family tragedy, Neddy regards it as a prose vehicle to further his own and his company, NedGJean International's, commitment to "help guide young writers to follow their dreams with a passion for producing projects and (making their) dreams become a reality." He maintains a  blog called "Words and Music".

One of the earliest contributors to this blog, Enzo Malaglisi published Castelforte, his first collection, in 2017 (Xlibris), showcasing a powerful body of work dealing with desperation, love, fear, the irresistible comfort of needing things, as well as more large-scale subjects like freedom and justice—all unified by the theme of redemption. Click here to read his remarkable “At the Mercy Of a Higher Hand” from 2011.

Saturday’s Tuesday Night Live launch party is free and open to the public; refreshments will be served (and bring your lungs, too, as there will be singing).

When:
3-6 pm
Saturday
October 20, 2018

Where:
Unitarian Universalist Congregation
20 Forest Street
Stamford, CT 06901

Contact:
Ralph Nazareth
203-570-2168

Neddy Smith: A Widening Of Musical Gates

This Wednesday at The 9th Note Jazz Supper Club in Stamford, Neddy Smith and the East/West Trio will perform selections from Blue Monday, his more laid-back follow-up to 2013’s Mood Swing.

 A spirited delver into Jazz, Funk, Latin and other Western musical forms, with Blue, Neddy casts the net wider than ever for cosmopolitan inspiration. “The blending of various sonic expressions from the Orient, mixed with Middle Eastern influences… combined with my Jamaican/Caribbean roots and other (influences)… has prepared me for this album,” Neddy enthuses, a PoemAlley participant who operates NedGJean International Inc., his Norwalk-based recording studio, out of which he also maintains his own label. An instructor and coach, Neddy is a member of the Recording Academy and AFM Local 802.

Neddy has led TransWave, Neddy Smith and Friends and other ensembles over the years in his energetic forays into different genres. Below is a video of "Bursting Out" (2011), recorded live at Smash Studios in New York City:

 

 

Tracks like “The Eastern Gate” and “The Lotus Tree” (a live performance) bespeak the meditative approach Neddy sought for his new release, a departure from Mood Swing’s pronounced “rhythmic overdrive”. At the same time, the process of creating the CD, itself, communicated its divergent form, with the input of his friend and past collaborator, pianist Dr. Michiro Negishi and flutist Maddy Hertz: “the subtle melodic lines… defin(ing) the mood of (the) majority of the tracks… directed me more towards a Trio sound,” including Neddy's own signature bass contributions.

Click here to learn more about Neddy and his work; you can listen to album selections and order Blue Monday at CD Baby here.     

When:

8pm
February 3, 2016

Where:
The 9^th Note Jazz Supper Club
15 Bank Street
Stamford, CT 06901

Contact:

203-504-8828

Bursting Out At DoubleTree

Tomorrow’s “A Day of Contemporary Music” at the DoubleTree Hotel in Norwalk will feature Debbie Hawkins, Rachel Carruthers, Steve DeTroy and nearly 20 other jazz performers over the course of six hours of live music, beginning at noon. 

Organized by musician and enthusiastic PoemAlley member Neddy Smith, this festival is held in support of the local food bank (be sure to bring a non-perishable item along with a suggested donation of $15).

Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Neddy grew up immersed in the music of Motown, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and the Montego Bay Boys & Girls Club, among many other influences. Falling deeply in love with Funk, Jazz and Latin grooves, as well as regional Jamaican music, Neddy began working professionally in the 1970s with numerous acts prior to heading The Banana Boat Club with singing sensations Alvin J. Brown and Sweeney Williams and went on to study with acclaimed pianist and Julliard graduate, the late Cecil Lloyd, to whom Neddy credits advancing his education in Jazz--especially in regard to musical theory, arrangement and composition.

Neddy Smith jamming with friends

Subsequent tutelage under renowned guitarist Ernest Ranglin ingrained in Neddy the value of stretching bass performance to its creative limits at a young age—an infectiously creative ethos he has translated into all his later endeavors, spanning music instruction, live programming and broadcast graphics, as well as the original songs compiled in 2008's Turnaround. The pulsing reggae/rock foundation of “Walking Talking (with my friends on the street)” makes the song a particular highlight of the album. Here’s the original unreleased 1987 video version, performed by Neddy with his band Transwave...

... and below, a clip from Steve DeTroy (performing with his band), one of the 17 artists contributing their musical passion to the charity event:

Find out about Neddy’s new album in the works, Bursting Out, along with his other activities and services, at NedGJean International.

When:

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Noon-6 PM

Where:

DoubleTree Hotel

789 Connecticut Avenue

Norwalk, CT 06854

Contact:

Neddy Smith

Phone: 203-838-3959

Email: info@nedgjean.com